Former Rockford cop gets 8 years for DUI crash that left woman paralyzed

Thursday

May 15, 2014 at 2:55 PMMay 15, 2014 at 7:49 PM

By Jeff KolkeyRockford Register Star

BELVIDERE ­— The women had just left their book club and were chatting in the car after a pleasant evening on May 7, 2012, heading home to Poplar Grove, when their lives were upended by a drunken driver.

They had their families and husbands and jobs. They golfed as many days a week as they could. And they enjoyed their informal book club meetings. They loved spending time with each other.

But those moments of joy were stripped from the women in an instant and their lives changed forever by a Rockford Police Department officer who got drunk, got behind the wheel of a minivan and ran the women off a dark rural road.

Former Rockford Police Officer Daniel Cruz, 39, was sentenced Thursday inside the Boone County Courthouse to eight years in prison by Judge C. Robert Tobin III. Cruz had pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated DUI in the May 2012 crash outside Belvidere and could have been sentenced to probation or one to 12 years in prison.

Tobin said Cruz’s clean criminal record, track record as an outstanding father, his military service and his many years of public service as a police officer were points in his favor.

But his actions after the crash were points against Cruz.

Instead of rendering aid, Cruz tried to leave the crash scene and lied to emergency responders about whether he was involved, witnesses testified. He was overheard calling an unknown woman for a ride.

“You didn’t call 911, you called for a getaway car,” Tobin said. “You had two choices: Stick around or flee. You fled.”

During an emotional four-hour sentencing hearing, Cruz’s defense portrayed him as a changed man who made a “mistake” for which he is already being punished. Character witnesses, including fellow police officers, family and friends, said sentencing Cruz to prison would be heaping tragedy upon tragedy.

Four women had all piled into Lynn S. Acker’s Oldsmobile Bravada after their informal book club meeting. Passengers were Mary “Suzie” Danielson, Sara Cernohous and Kim Hawkinson, all from Poplar Grove.

Headlights suddenly glared into Acker’s eyes from the sideview mirror. Hawkinson had been looking down but looked up when she heard alarm in Acker’s voice.

“What’s this guy doing?” Acker asked as a minivan appeared alongside in a no-passing zone. They were about to reach a notorious curve on Beloit Road near Townhall Road.

Cruz was behind the wheel of the van.

A pickup truck, towing a trailer and driven by Russell Kindberg of Machesney Park, was coming the other way.

Cruz rammed his minivan into Acker’s vehicle, a desperate attempt to avoid a head-on collision with the truck. Acker tried to avoid the ditch to her right, but overcorrected sending her Bravada rolling through a farm field east of the road. Cruz’s vehicle struck Kindberg’s trailer.

Covered in mud and grass, the Bravada came to rest upright. Danielson had been flung about the vehicle despite a friend’s effort to hold onto her.

Her neck was broken, her spine damaged. Danielson, 61, was paralyzed from the neck down.

She spoke with a hoarse voice in court.

A woman who once took pride in her physical health and was a renowned golfer, is now confined to a wheelchair.

Trips to the hospital are frequent. Danielson suffers from seizures. She can’t dress herself. She can’t bathe herself. She needs nursing care constantly and can’t travel. The husband she once cared for, serves all her meals. He has learned to administer intravenous medications.

Boone County State’s Attorney Victor Escarcida asked for a 10-year sentence, saying it would give Cruz a taste of the prison Danielson is trapped inside, a prison of her own body.

Cruz wiped away tears as Danielson testified.

Defense witnesses testified that Cruz has not had a drink of alcohol since the crash. He voluntarily entered a treatment program. He has gone back to school to earn double master’s degrees, trying to turn his life around.

Before the crash, Cruz was troubled by a marriage that was falling apart. He asked Tobin for mercy.

His lawyer, Paul Vella, and character witnesses asked that he get probation instead of prison time.

“I take responsibility for my actions,” Cruz said. “I made a terrible decision and I have to live with that decision for the rest of my life.

“I was raised without a father and I don’t want to put my children through what I went through. I would do anything to keep my kids safe. ... I will tell my kids about the horrible mistake I made when the time is right. They are 6 and 8. Your honor, I ask that you please take mercy on me.”

Acker often flashes back to the helpless feeling she had during the accident. She is too scared to drive at night and sometimes panics and goes home while driving during the day.

Sometimes, Acker lays awake nights wondering if there is something else she could have done.

“It haunts me,” Acker said. “I know there is nothing I could do. There was nowhere to go and I never saw that car until it was at my side.”

Tobin said the term “tragedy” was thrown around the sentencing hearing too freely.

“Clearly, the women in the SUV, their friends and family, they are entitled to use that word,” Tobin said.

“Also, the word ‘mistake’ was used. There was no mistake here. This was not a ‘mistake.’ As a police officer for 13 years, you knew it was a possibility this could happen. A poor choice? Maybe. ... But there was nothing about what happened after the accident that was a mistake.”